Victorian Members - write to your newly elected parliament about your population concerns

To our Victorian members, Victorian supporters, and anyone living in Victoria concerned about the record population growth in the state. Growth which is threatening to liveability and long term sustainability of both Melbourne and regional Victoria.

With a freshly elected Victorian state parliament, we suspect that population will be a hot topic for the next parliamentary term.

Therefore, it is an ideal time to write to your serving MPs to tell them exactly why high population in Victoria is not serving you.

The more of us that write to our politicians, the louder the voice for change in population policy will become.

For this reason, we have written a pro-forma letter that we believe covers the main points, makes a convincing argument and is keeping to the style that we believe politicians will read.

Please feel free to use the entirely of this pro-forma or to personalise it when sending to your local lower and upper house MPS.

I am writing to you today in relation to the rapid rate of population growth within our state, particularly within Greater Melbourne, which is growing at over 100,000 per annum. The only debate within government and the media is centred around “where Victoria should house all of the population growth”, but surely the bigger debate is on the merits of population growth, and whether it is a good idea at all?

Population growth is an issue which exacerbates many of the common concerns of today:congestion, liveability, environment, water security, public-debt, and housing affordability. Therefore, it is essential that the all levels of government consider these issues against any future population growth.

Melbourne reached 5 million in 2018, and is now projected to be a Megacity of 8 million by 2051. This would be a very poor outcome for residents:
A Melbourne of 8 million is not a liveable city.
A Melbourne of 8 million is not a prosperous city.
A Melbourne of 8 million is not a sustainable city.
A Melbourne of 8 million is not an affordable city.

The Victorian government’s plan to continue to expand the suburban fringe (i) has created large pockets of sprawl, which offer a poor quality of life for residents. City fringe residents face commute times of up to 2 hours, and confined to a 300m2 block (ii) , yet don’t enjoy any of the benefits of rural lifestyles. However, with median house prices in excess of $1 million for the majority of Melbourne’s established suburbs, few families have a choice but to live in these fringe estates.

The alternative of increasing the density of Melbourne with more apartments is no panacea either. Historic buildings and family homes have been replaced with cranes and constructions sites across all of inner Melbourne. It is a property developers’ paradise. For residents, however, high density living has been shown to have adverse mental and physical effects .

The Property Council and business lobby groups will insist that more infrastructure is the solution. Planning consultant Marcus Spiller has said, “We are now just so far behind that there's almost no way to catch up with the growth". (iii) Current infrastructure projects such as: the level crossing removal ($4 billion), the Melbourne metro project ($11 billion), Northeast link ($15 billion) are a huge impost on the state’s budget, and are at best a band-aid on the city’s growing congestion. Furthermore, the huge cost of this “growth infrastructure” is diverting funds away from other essential services, while piling the state under a mountain of debt.

The Treasurer, Tim Pallas, has trumpeted the benefits of population growth as a boon for the Victorian Economy. This ignores the fact that per capita, the Victorian economy has gone backwards in four of the past eight years (iv). Our current trajectory towards a future of 8 million Melbournians is perilous, and not in the best interests of the electorate.

I urge you consider the following actions:
1. To actively debate the topic of population growth within state parliament, and to seek public consultation on the current growth agenda
2. To develop a population policy which considers all of the impacts of population growth on Australia’s: economy, health, environment, and living standards.
3. Negotiate with the federal government to reduce Australia’s immigration intake in line with long-term historical levels of 70,000 per annum. Net migration is responsible for 60% of Australia’s annual population increase, making immigration policy our ‘de facto’ population policy, at present.